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Counting steps

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The use of step count as a metric of synthetic efficiency carries opportunities and challenges. Here, proposals are made to standardize what constitutes a synthetic step and how steps are counted. These proposals may be beneficial in the holistic evaluation of published synthetic routes.

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Fig. 1: Defining and reporting synthetic steps.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks members of his research team, Michael Krische (University of Texas at Austin), Michael Crimmins, Erik Alexanian (both University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and Xin Linghu (Ideaya Biosciences), for stimulating discussions. The synthetic work of the author’s research team is supported by NSF CHE-1954835 and NIH R35 GM 118055. Dedicated to David A. Evans (1941–2022).

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  1. Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Jeffrey S. Johnson

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  1. Jeffrey S. Johnson
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Correspondence to Jeffrey S. Johnson.

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Nature Synthesis thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Johnson, J.S. Counting steps. Nat. Synth 2, 6–8 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-022-00204-3

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